


A dream worth having

by Kalypso



Category: Blake's 7
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-23
Updated: 2009-12-23
Packaged: 2017-12-24 17:45:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/942812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalypso/pseuds/Kalypso
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A talented thief meets a big-name smuggler in a bar to discuss business.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A dream worth having

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Vilakins](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vilakins/gifts).



> I often say I'm a bit doubtful about stories where They Knew Each Other Before, so I'm not sure why I wrote one. But in my defence it's not very long before.

The bar was a bit posher than I was used to, but you want to make the right impression when you're meeting a new... colleague? partner? Better not go too fast - someone I was hoping to do business with. A lot of business, if things worked out.

"It's a smuggling gang, and a warehouse full of booze," my mate Blee had told me. Well, he wasn't that good a mate, but he came to me when he needed a top-class lock-pick. We'd pulled off several jobs together, but from the way he was talking this could be the big one. "Not the sort of booze you're thinking of - even the alphas are lucky to get hold of this stuff. It goes straight to the Administration bigwigs. All the smugglers need is to get it out of there and on their ship. Then they can start flogging it round the smarter worlds. A single bottle's worth a few hundred credits - a case would bring in thousands. And there's a lot of cases."

Now that sounded like my sort of job, especially if I got a chance to try a dose of the merchandise - quality control, you know, you wouldn't want to risk your customers being disappointed. And besides, I'd got another idea in the back of my head, though I didn't tell Blee.

"It's the captain who wants to see you, so I've set up the meet for tomorrow night. Scrub up as best as you can, she's a classy bird - name of Stannis." He paused a moment. "Haven't heard of Jenna Stannis? She's a big name as smugglers go. This could be a real break, Vila boy."

So there I was, in the smartest gear I had, slightly on the large side for me, but the beta guy I'd pinched it from was a tall man. And there she was - classy didn't begin to cover it. Great legs, of course. Blonde curls, nicely styled - you never saw that where I came from. And the fierce pride in those dark eyes as they glanced round the bar and skimmed over me. She was the best looker in the room - any room - and she knew it. Everyone knew it.

I tried to look casually confident as I walked up to stand beside her and ordered a soma. I gave her my best smile. "Captain Stannis, I believe?"

She gave me a proper look now. "And you are?"

"Vila Restal. At your service." She didn't look particularly gratified. "And I hear that you do need my services."

She nodded towards an alcove, and we carried our drinks over. "What I need is someone who's got top-level skills, and is fast with it. And extremely discreet."

I looked as sincere as I knew how, and I meant it. "That goes without saying."

She handed me a small box. Oh, now this was more like it. I may not look much, but the one chance I have to impress is when I'm practising my trade - and the nature of the trade means that it's not generally a very good idea to have an audience. When I do have someone with me on the job, it's not usually a lady. And here she was asking me to show off for her! I pulled a small pick out of my sleeve, inserted it in the right spot, did a slightly fiddly twist that was almost too quick to see, and handed back the box with a small flourish - and without a sound, as I'd disabled the booby-trap alarm as I opened it. For the first time she rewarded me with a small smile.

"Nice work. Not quite the same as opening a door when you're under pressure, but I'm told you're not bad at that either."

I grinned, my confidence growing with every moment. "Oh, I'm even faster under pressure."

She stared hard at me for a minute, evidently making her mind up, and then nodded. "OK. We'll be in touch with you in a few days, and tell you where to meet us. We'll take you in, you open the door, help us load up, and when it's done we'll take you out again. It's got to be done as quickly as possible."

I nodded. "And... I get?"

"Fifteen thousand, and we'll give it to you as soon as the job's done. I'm not the sort who keeps an associate waiting until I've off-loaded the goods." She smiled again. "Chances are, we'll never meet again, anyway."

This was the moment I had to seize, and suddenly I was full of nerves again. "Look... I, er, I wanted to say... I could do more work for you."

She seemed to be considering the possibility. "If this job goes smoothly... I stop off on Earth every few years."

"I was thinking... sooner. Doesn't have to be on Earth. Well, what I've been wondering is... you must find yourself needing this sort of help in a lot of places. Um... suppose you had your own, on-board specialist? You wouldn't need to find a new lock-pick in every port. He'd... I'd... be there, on tap."

She was looking startled, then she smiled again. "So Earth's getting a little too hot for you?"

I blushed. "Well... I've been around a while, there are quite a few police who know my face. That doesn't help with my career. But... apart from that... all my life, I've wanted to travel. See the stars. Worlds with a bit more fun and colour than this one. But I've never had the chance. The Federation military's hardly my line, and if I applied for a colony they'd send me to some mud-ball and expect me to work all day. I'm a thief - a good thief. I want to go to the sort of places where I can use my talents. Places where smugglers go."

"Free traders," she corrected me. Was that a flicker of understanding in her eyes? "And it's not always fun. Some of it's dangerous."

I swallowed. "Yes... well, I'd have to cope with that, I suppose. But I'd feel safer if I had a crew with me, people who'd look out for me."

She seemed amused, a good sign. She hadn't dismissed it out of hand. "I'll think about it, Vila. Don't count on it. We'll be in touch."

She knocked back the rest of her drink, rose to her feet and strolled out, while half the bar gave her admiring glances, and wondered why she'd been talking to a dull little man like me.

But I sat alone, and couldn't stop grinning, because she hadn't said no. Probably she would later; until that happened, though, I could enjoy my dream of the future. Vila Restal, flying round the galaxy, having adventures in exciting places, living a life I'd never known.

And you know what? It did happen, moreorless. Though I thought I was finished, at first. I never found out what Jenna would have said - turned out Blee reckoned the reward for dobbing on a big name smuggler was better than the fee for fixing her up with a thief. I'd just been bait. I got the door open in seconds, but I never saw a bottle: the place was crawling with security, who jumped out and arrested us. So I'd got my trip off Earth, all right, but the only planet on the schedule was Cygnus Alpha, which wasn't the sort of place I'd had in mind at all.

Only then we met Blake, and what he had in mind didn't involve Cygnus Alpha either. But that's another story.


End file.
